Author: Dave
From the Israel-Palestine Memory Hole
From the Israel-Palestine Memory Hole: a very brief, incomplete summary of how we got where we are, in under two-three hours.
(* For “stealing a people’s country” read the ethnic cleansing of Palestine.)
- Hamas attack was ‘almost inevitable’ (Times Radio)
“For many years there’s been a complete absence of any kind of political process.” The “appalling living conditions in Gaza” and “two-sided Palestinian leadership” have made a conflict like this ‘inevitable’, says, former Gaza correspondent, James Rogers.
2. Israel launches most intense military operation in West Bank in years; at least 8 Palestinians dead 2023
U.N. Mideast envoy Tor Wennesland warned that the escalation in the West Bank was “very dangerous.” Asked about the Israeli drone attacks on residential areas, U.N. spokesman Farhan Haq said: “Attacks on heavily populated areas are violations of international humanitarian law.”
Lynn Hastings, the U.N. humanitarian coordinator in the Palestinian areas, said on Twitter that she was “alarmed by scale of Israeli forces operation” and noted the airstrikes in a densely populated refugee camp. She said the U.N. was mobilizing humanitarian aid.
UNRWA, the U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees, said many camp residents were in need of food, drinking water and milk powder.
3. Laying Siege to Gaza Is No Solution
“The latest Israeli military operation in Gaza is the most recent in a long string of such incursions over the past two decades. Major attacks took place in 2006, 2008, 2010, 2012, 2014, 2018, and 2021—virtually every two years. Israel has pursued a strategy of “mowing the lawn,” a phrase it uses to describe the periodic bombing of Palestinians in the territory to keep armed groups at bay. But each time Israel says it is going to degrade and destroy the capabilities of Gazan militants, fighters soon prove they have only expanded and increased their capabilities.”
4. Israel imposing apartheid on Palestinians, says former Mossad chief
Pardo is among the highest ranking former officials to draw the once taboo parallel with the old South Africa. Israel’s former attorney general, Michael Ben-Yair, said last year “that my country has sunk to such political and moral depths that it is now an apartheid regime”.
The former speaker of the Israeli parliament, Avraham Burg, and the renowned Israeli historian, Benny Morris, are among more than 2,000 Israeli and American public figures who have signed a recent public statement declaring that “Palestinians live under a regime of apartheid”.
5. Norman Finkelstein: Outrage over Israeli Massacre Shows Power of Nonviolent Palestinian Resistance 2018-19
6. Norman Finkelstein: There was NO WAR in GAZA, it was a MASSACRE 2008-2009
7. An Issue Of Justice: Origins Of The Israel/Palestine Conflict 1948 – 2006
For more resources see the 100 Best Books on the Middle East.
Scotland First Minister’s family stuck in Gaza
The only Western statesman that I’ve seen call Israel’s action “collective punishment”, a major war crime, which is obvious to all. Others are rather encouraging war crimes with blind support.
First Minister of Scotland Humza Yousaf says his parents-in-law, who are stuck in Gaza amid the Israeli–Palestinian conflict, may suffer unjustified “collective punishment”.
Zachariah Mampilly – Africa Uprising: Popular Protest and Political Change
Oliver Richmond – Peace-building and State-building
Full lecture of Professor of University of Manchester Oliver Richmond, in front of School of Politics, in Prishtina.
The Global South Unit for Mediation (GSUM) has the pleasure to present the interview with Prof. Oliver Richmond, Research Professor in International Relations, Peace and Conflict Studies at the University of Manchester. In his interview, Richmond discusses the limitations and possibilities of transformation in traditional approaches on peacebuilding, as well as the role of institutions in the Global South, like GSUM, in the promotion of change. The interview was conducted during the third edition of the GSUM Winter School, organized in July 2016, in Rio de Janeiro, in which Oliver Richmond participated giving the course “Approaches to Peacebuilding”.
Everyday Peace: the extraordinary peacemaking skills of so-called “ordinary” people
In this inaugural lecture, Professor Roger Mac Ginty focuses on the conflict avoiding and reconciliation practices used in everyday life in deeply divided societies. Offering an alternative to the emphasis on top-down interventions by professional conflict resolution ‘experts’, Professor Mac Ginty considers how everyday peace skills can help prevent a divided society from tipping over into civil war. This lecture was delivered on 23rd October, 2013.
Nothing to Envy: Ordinary Lives in North Korea
As part of the Baugh Center Free Enterprise Forum, guest speaker Barbara Demick spoke on the topic of “Nothing to Envy: Ordinary Lives in North Korea.”
Barbara Demick’s book Nothing to Envy: Ordinary Lives in North Korea is listed in the 100 Best Chinese, Japanese and Korean History Books
For Sama, Documentary Film Screenings
FOR SAMA was awarded the Prix L’Œil d’Or for Best Documentary at the 2019 Cannes Film Festival. It also won the Grand Jury Award for Best Documentary at the SXSW Film Festival, and the Special Jury Prize for International Feature Documentary at the Hot Docs Festival.
Resources
- Syria: A woman’s view of the world’s most brutal war
- Waad and Hamza al-Kateab on surviving the siege on Syria, resisting a regime and ‘For Sama’
- For Sama documentary official website
- For Sama facebook page
SCREENINGS + Q&A
New York, US: 20 September – Photoville
London, UK: 14 September – Bertha Dochouse
Dublin, Ireland: 13-19 September 2019 – Irish Film Institute
London, UK: 13 September – Picturehouse Central, including Q&A with directors.
Bristol, UK: 12 September – Watershed, including Q&A with directors.
London, UK: 11 September – Ritzy Picturehouse Brixton, including Q&A with directors.
London, UK: 11 September – Barbican, including Q&A with directors.
Connecticut, US: 10 September – University of Connecticut
London, UK: 10 September – NFT1, BFI , including Q&A with directors.
Cambridge, UK: 9 September – Arts Picturehouse, including Q&A with directors.
London, UK: 5 September – Ciné Lumière, including Q&A with directors.
Glasgow, UK: 4 September – GFT, including Q&A with directors.
Manchester, UK: 3 September – H.O.M.E, including Q&A with directors.
Helsinki: 2 September – Helsinki Int Film Festival
London, UK: 2 September – Curzon Soho, London, including Q&A with directors.
Samar Yazbek: My Journey to the Shattered Heart of Syria (2015)
Samar Yazbek was a well-known journalist, a presenter on Syrian television and a celebrated novelist when she fell foul of the Assad regime, leaving her no choice but to flee. She was forced to watch from afar as a peaceful uprising turned into violent conflict and her country burned. This is from 2015.
The Burning Shores: Inside the Battle for the New Libya
Frederic Wehrey discusses his book, “The Burning Shores” at Politics and Prose on 4/19/18. The Burning Shores is in the Listmuse 100 Best Middle East History and Politics Books list.
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